Primary finding
Probable cause
the pilot's inadvertent turn onto a vehicular access road instead of a taxiway at a large unfamiliar airport, and his diverted attention.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
After the pilot made a 10-minute daylight flight and landing to an unfamiliar airport, he received taxi instructions from the ground controller. The pilot was talking to the ground and inadvertently turned onto a vehicular access road and collided with 22 construction fence posts.
Source record
Factual narrative
On June 14, 1996, at 1610 hours Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-24-250, N6420P, operated by the private pilot, taxied into fence posts following landing at the McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the personal flight. The airplane was substantially damaged. Neither the commercial pilot nor the two passengers were injured. The daytime flight originated from North Las Vegas at 1600. The pilot reported that he was not familiar with the airport. At the time of the collision he was communicating with the ground controller and was receiving taxi instructions to a fixed-base operator. The pilot indicated that when he heard a "thumping sound" he looked to the left and observed that the left "wing was being eaten by a construction fence." The pilot further reported that the controller indicated he had taxied onto a vehicular access road and had missed the desired taxiway turnoff. An examination of the airplane by an airplane mechanic from Eagle Jet Charter revealed that between 4 and 5 feet of the left wing's leading edge span had been crushed in an inward direction. Also, four wing ribs and two stringers were bent when the pilot collided with 22 fence posts near its facility. -